propane tank for septic truck

[peisepticguy]

Hi Everyone,

I am new here and have a question.

I had an old 1 ton truck with an old 500 gallon boiler on the back. For vacuum I tapped into the vacuum source of the truck's engine. (Well, I didn't do this, the previous owner of the business did.") The boiler is really thick.

The 1 ton had gotten so old it had to be replaced with the new truck that I just bought (2 ton).

I have a brand new 1000 galllon 1/4" steel propane tank that I bought to use for my new pumper truck. It's 15ft long and is the "common ones" that you see outside of a restaurant.

I have a nasty fear that this tank might collapse under pressure. I will be hooking a conde 70 cfm pump onto it. Should I be bracing the sides of this tank with steel?

On another note: The tank has dished ends not flat ends.

[COLE_Jeff]

If it's 1/4" steel with rounded tank heads the suction would most likely not make it collapse if the proper relief valves are installed. 1/4" steel is thicker (and heavier) than most septic trucks would be spec'd at. If you don't install relief valves you may as well not even try it.

Another issue to consider is that you will not have any internal tank baffles and your loads may abruptly shift during travel. A 1,000 gallon tank will carry roughly 8,000-8,500 pounds not including the weight of the tank itself. A 2 ton chassis would be capable of 4,000+/- pounds on the rear axle. With the weight of the tank figured on top of that you'd be about 2-3 times overweight. Not a very safe situation.

Somebody correct me if I am wrong on this.

Jeff

[peisepticguy]

Thanks for the info.

So are you saying that if I put baffles in the tank I'd be alright?

Or are you saying that my truck can't handle the weight of the full tank.

Sorry...Just getting confused :confused:

On a side note...My new truck is an older International u-haul truck with air suspension.

[Trent]

You would be "wasting" alot of the capacity of your truck by using the heavier tank. You would be much further ahead to buy a tank specific for the application. Then you could spec the necesary baffles and pressure/vacuum relief valves.

[COLE_Jeff]

I guess I was saying the tank you are trying to build out of the propane tank should have baffles and would also end up being overweight. Not sure what the front and rear axles are actually rated at on a "2-ton" truck, but air-suspension or not, with a full load, or even a half load, you'd be WAY overweight. That tank alone weighs about 2,000-2,400 pounds. That means you could only carry about 200 gallons of liquid in it to be within the truck's specs. You either need a heftier truck (18K rears and 12K fronts) or a different tank. Even with a different tank, 500 gallons of liquid weighs about 4,000 pounds and that's your 2 tons.

[peisepticguy]

Hi There,

I was just talking to the international/navistar dealer here. They say that by my VIN for the truck the rear axle is rated at 15,500 pounds and that my front axle is 8,000 pounds.

[pshed]

i did the very thing your talking about. took propane tank [500gal] needed to shorten it up,to go crossways on truck. big time fire hazzard,when working on it, poroane tends to soak into the steel even after a good washing. just be careful

[peisepticguy]

i did the very thing your talking about. took propane tank [500gal] needed to shorten it up,to go crossways on truck. big time fire hazzard,when working on it, poroane tends to soak into the steel even after a good washing. just be careful
Yeah, I'm not fond of propane. It has always scared me. A friend (welding professional) of mine put a 4" fitting/ outlet on the end of the tank for me.

The first thing we did was hooked a hose onto the exhaust of my new international, and hooked the other end onto a pipe on the top of the new propane tank. We let it idle for about 20-30 minutes (until the tank felt warm to touch), then he cut into it and welded it for me.

I guess any of the propane "pockets" that may still be inside it are carried out by the exhaust. I had never heard of this before.

[hockeyologist]

If you dont put in a baffle on the inside , you will be looking like a bobble head doll at the red lights or stop signs ,not to mention the dangers of liquid movement on curves and etc . You need to have someone in the manufacturing end of tanks to give you some advice on this and good luck .